On the Fiddle (1961)
Tricked into joining the RAF by a wily judge, wide boy Horace Pope sets his sights on the main chance, teams with slow-witted, good-hearted gypsy Pedlar Pascoe, and works up a lucrative racket in conning both his colleagues and the RAF. By means of various devious schemes Pope and Pascoe manage to avoid the front lines until they are sent to France - where they find themselves making unexpected and uncomfortably close contact with the enemy.
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"On the Fiddle" is a good enough film for those who have an hour and a half to spare. Sean Connery was just 1 year away from becoming one of the biggest stars of our time when he made this war comedy/drama. Apparently, it was "On the Fiddle" that led to his being considered for James Bond. Alfred Lynch - largely forgotten today - takes the lead as a fast thinking lovable rogue who knows every dodge there is. Sean Connery is cast as Lynch's slightly dimwitted but loyal friend as they both share various experiences during the second world war. The tone is kept quite lighthearted until about the last 20 minutes of the film. Then both characters are confronted by how truly horrific war is. This film disappeared from everyone's radar apart from rare television broadcasts. The pace is pretty good and the film is a lively one. The joint leads work well together and they carry the film most effectively. All kinds of familiar actors crop up along the way: Stanley Holloway, Kathleen Harrison, Kenneth J. Warren, Hugh Lloyd (of Tony Hancock fame) and others. Alfred Lynch is given the chance to display a more tragic side to his character and it shows there is more to his character than just being a cockney spiv. This is worth a look.
On the Fiddle is a passable film with Alfred Lynch in a rare leading role as Horace Pope a spiv type scam artist who ends up being sent to the army by a judge.Once he has joined up he teams up with dim witted but amiable squaddie Pedlar Pascoe (Sean Connery) who tags along with his money making schemes and provides the brawn to his brains.The duo accidentally become war heroes, then end up running a pub serving US based soldiers.Connery would go on to become James Bond a year later so here is a role where he is kind of cast against type. Lynch better known as a shifty type character actor rather enjoys being in the limelight as the star but he really is charmless and unsympathetic here, more a third rate and not nice Sergeant Bilko.
This is a perfectly charming little service comedy, with the added bonus of co-starring Sean Connery just before he attained fame in the role of James Bond. Even better, Connery plays totally against type, as a low-key version of Gomer Pyle -- an ingenuous, somewhat stupid-but-likeable serviceman. Alfred Lynch is the real star, though, playing a weasel-y British version of Sgt. Bilko, running numerous scams with his dim-witted buddy Connery. It's funny. Imagine American service sitcoms such as "McHale's Navy" and "Sgt. Bilko" crossed with the gently loopy charms of Ealing Comedies, and you'll get an idea of the tone of this film.
Sean, you know I think that you are absolutely the greatest actor in the world, but I can't commend you for this. Comedy just isn't your strong suit.However, it wasn't all your fault. Some of the stuff was just too hard to understand. Alfred Lynch did a decent job, but you gotta wonder where the lines came from from the beginning.Once again, Sean... I apologize.